Stockholm’s New Congestion Charge to Finance Ring Road, Possible Sprawl

1 October 2006

by Jack Rosebro

Stockholm’s congestion charge area. Click to enlarge.

Sweden’s new Alliance government has announced plans to introduce congestion charges in central Stockholm, and use the money to resurrect an old plan to build a relief ring road around the capital.

The four leaders announced the move in a joint article in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter today. Payment stations and monitoring cameras are already in place around the capital, having been installed as part of a trial period—known as the Stockholm Trials—which took place during the first half of 2006.

A referendum followed the trials; Stockholm approved the charge, while surrounding municipalities opposed it. The previous government had promised to honor the wishes of the citizens of Stockholm.

One of Stockholm’s payment stations, at Norrtull. Photo: Mikael Ullén

Stockholm’s congestion charge, which is applicable from 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM weekdays, will range from 10 to 20 Swedish kronors (US$1.36 to US$2.72) every time a vehicle moves in or out of the zone, depending on time of day. Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt, who will become Sweden’s new prime minister this week, said “We are underlining that any charges will finance the bypass [road].”

The leaders of the four new governing parties, which take power on Friday, also said that they were scrapping plans to build the Citybanan rail project, which would have seen tunnels built under central Stockholm.

Route of the proposed—and now scrapped—Citybanan underground rail routes.

The ring road has been proposed before. Part of a 1990s transit improvement project concept known as the Dennis Proposal, after one of the politicians who promoted it, it was itself previously scrapped as unsustainable and likely to lead to sprawl and increased pollution.

Previous cost estimates for the road, which is designed to allow traffic to bypass the capital rather than running through it, had been estimated at 20 billion Swedish kronors (US$2.7 billion).

The mandate is to fix a good traffic solution for Stockholmers—and one that we can finance. I believe that Stockholmers are prepared to pay congestion charges if they see that they get something for them—if the money doesn’t go into the state’s black hole, but rather to Stockholmers themselves.

—Maud Olofsson, Centre Party leader

The Alliance government also promised in the article that national government control of congestion charging would eventually be transferred to local councils.

Stockholm is not the only major city to adopt a congestion charge; the UK’s Cambridge, for example, had experimented with congestion charging as far back as 1993. However, London is the best-known and largest city to do so. The charges are administered by Transport for London (TfL).

London’s congestion charge, which was introduced three years ago, was raised last year to £8 ($15 USD). The daily charge must be paid by the registered owner of a vehicle that enters, leaves or moves around within the congestion charge zone between 7 AM and 6.30 PM weekdays. Low-CO₂ vehicles are exempt from the charge.

The western expansion of London’s congestion charge, which will almost double the area of the zone, is scheduled to take place in 2007. London’s mayor has also called for a £25 ($47 USD) congestion charge for vehicles producing an emission of more than 226 grams/km of CO₂.